Open Your Heart
by SoxGirl18
Summary: Unfortunate events have caused Johhny to close himself off from the world. But one girl just might change all that.
1. Prologue

**A/N: I would like to thank those who reviewed my last story, _Living on a Prayer. _To answer the question about future involvement of Jalli, this story gives a back history of Johnny's first relationship and covers the events from "With or Without You" to "You Be Illin'".**

**This story is in two parts, each containing three chapters plus a prlogue and an epilogue. The first one devoted to Claudia, Johnny's first girlfriend from eighth grade. The second one is devoted to Alli. These are the only two serious relationships Johnny has ever had (according to me, anyway). Reviews are always welcome.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi, the song "Open Your Heart" by Madonna, or the movie _Don Juan DeMarco_.**

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"_Open your heat with the key. One is such a lonely number." _"Open Your Heart" Madonna 1986

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**Prologue**

Johnny DiMarco had the reputation for being a player. He didn't "do" serious relationships. As far as anyone knew, he's never had a serious girlfriend. He's always been a horndog. So when it became public knowledge around Degrassi Community School that Johnny DiMarco and Alli Bhandari were indeed serious and not just a one night stand or hallway flirt buddies, everyone was shocked.

Someone had actually tamed the wild beast, and it was a little niner no less!

"How did she do it?" Degrassi-ites wondered aloud. Some of Johnny DiMarco's former conquests were a little jealous.

Chantay Black, DCS's resident busy body, reported the juicy details on her video blog, _The Anti-Grapevine_:

"Hello Degrassi, have I got some news for you! It seems a that a certain ladies' man has been taken off the market. Not that too many ladies would be all that broken up about it, but I digress. My sources tell me that Johnny "Don Juan" DiMarco has decided to settle down with none other than Ms. Alli "Backwoods" Bhandari. Stay tuned or further Jalli updates. And remember, you heard it here first!"

As always, Degrassi was talking. But what only those close to Johnny (and that number was very few) knew about him was that he wasn't always a player.

Before there was Backwoods Bhandari, there was Catholic School Claudia.


	2. Chapter 1

**Part One: Claudia**

Johnny DiMarco first met Claudia Valenzuela when he was in Grade 8 at Holy Cross Catholic School.

Yes, from Kindergarten through Grade 8, Johnny went to Catholic school. He wore a uniform and everything. Some other Lakehurst/Degrassi hood rats also attended Holy Cross; Lucas Valieri, Nic Rancone, Drake Lempky and Bruce "The Moose" Sullivan. Back then, they were all just normal kids. They weren't angels but they were far from the sociopaths they had become once they reached high school.

Little did any of them know that the summer between Grades 8 and 9 would signal significant changes in their lives. Especially Johnny's.

Grade 8 started out as normally as any other year at Holy Cross yet this year was going to be special. It was the last year of grade school and Johnny and his friends were now the Big Dawgs. Younger kids looked up to them and teachers cut them some slack. Plus, they were starting to notice girls, even shy Johnny.

The eighth graders had just received their locker assignments and Johnny, as usual, was the first one to figure out his combination. He opened his locker and started putting his things inside. He noticed that the girl next to him was still struggling to get her locker open. He had never seen this girl before and he knew everybody in Grades 6 through 8, known as the Upper School, and some kids in the lower school.

It was painful to watch her struggle with that lock when it was obvious to Johnny that she was turning the dial way too fast. She grew more and more frustrated, so Johnny decided to offer some friendly advice.

"You're turning it too fast, that's why you can't get your locker open," he said, slightly amused. Startled to hear someone talking to her, she looked up.

"Oh...thanks," she said. Taking Johnny's advice, she turned the dial more slowly and precisely. Finally, she got her locker open.

"I hate combination locks," she said with an exasperated sigh. "I had a padlock on my locker at my last school." The lockers at Holy Cross had combination locks built into them. One thing Johnny and his friends loved to do for entertainment was to slam shut the lockers of younger kids right after they had gotten them open. The kids then had to rework their combinations to get their lockers open again.

"Yeah, I figured you were new,: Johnny told her. She looked at him quizzically.

"I know everybody in the Upper School," Johnny explained .

"My name's Claudia," she said, "I just moved here from Montreal." This sparked Johnny's curiosity. He had never met anyone from outside Toronto. She was pretty, too, with curly brown hair,a pretty smile and big brown eyes. Johnny liked girls with big brown eyes.

"Hi Claudia, I'm Johnny."

They sat together at lunch and Johnny found it easy to talk to Claudia. At thirteen, Johnny was shy around girls and never knew what to say to them. Regina, Anastacia and Mia didn't count since he had known them since kindergarten. Besides, Gina and Stacha were the sisters of two of his friends.

Like Johnny, Claudia liked to read and had some of the same favorite books. They also liked the same movies and, by the end of that week, they had made plans to see _I, Robot. _She was the first girl Johnny knew that liked science fiction. It was a typical date between two thirteen year-olds, nothing special. But after that date, the once shy Johnny was suddenly The Man.

Soon the two became inseparable and when classmates talked about them, their names ran together. They became JohnnyandClaudia. If this had been the time when the combined name trend had started, theynmiht have been Jaudia or Clonny. It was a good thing that trend came later because when it did come around, Johnny thought it was the stupidest thing ever. However, he did like teasing Lucas and Mia by calling them "Mucus".

Johnny always gave Claudia a ride home from school on the back of his bike. Hearing his friends' cat calls was an adrenaline rush. The only other guy in their clique who had a girlfriend was Lucas. He and Mia started going together when she was in Grade 6 and he was in Grade 7. Johnny didn't really like Mia that much. She was spoiled and bratty and always had to have her way. But that was Lucas' misery.

"Yeah, Johnny!" Lucas and Nic would yell. "You are The Man!"

"Make sure your skirt doesn't fly up, Claudia!" That came from Bruce.

Claudia's parents both worked so she was by herself in the afternoon. Johnny began spending time after school at Claudia's. He would stay until her parents came home and get to his house in time to eat dinner with his parents before they left for their jobs. He would watch TV and then put himself to bed before his parents came home at 3:00 a.m. Magda Lempky, Drake's mom, checked on him throughout the night.

Claudia and Johnny's afternoon get-togethers started off innocently enough. Then homework and video games soon gave way to other, more mature activities. Their first kiss took place at Claudia's house after school during a game of Super Mario Brothers. Claudia had just beaten the pants off Johnny and was gloating. Impulsively, Johnny leaned over and kissed her on the lips. Shocked, Claudia jumped back and let out a little squeal.

"Did you like that?" Johnny asked.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Do you want another one?" he asked.

"Uh huh," she said, nodding. Johnny gave her another kiss, and then another and another.

Soon, that became all they ever did.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

As Johnny's relationship with Claudia got more serious, the more he blew off his friends just to be with her. He ditched them to be with Claudia more often than Lucas ditched everyone to be with Mia. They all started to resent Claudia, even the girls. Whenever Mia, Gina and Stacha invited Claudia to go to the mall with them or just to hang out at the park, Claudia declined. Johnny tuned his friends out when they told him that Claudia was snobby.

She got her attitude from her parents. They had emigrated to Montreal from Colombia to give their daughter a better life. Both parents worked hard to give Claudia what they never had when they were young. When Claudia's father's job relocated to Toronto, Mr. Valenzuela wasn't happy with the working class neighborhood he moved his family into even though it was what his and his wife's salary could afford. But at least they lived on the opposite side of the freight train tracks from The Rows.

The Rows got its name from the row houses that made up the neighborhood. All the houses were attached to each other in rows of six. They were characterized by their shoddy construction. Anyone unfamiliar with the area would probably call it the ghetto, even though it was about a step up.

Johnny and his clique lived in The Rows. They never had anything to bad to say about it because it was all they knew. It wasn't until they got to high school that they came to the realization that they lived on the wrong side of the tracks. Literally. This realization would occur to Johnny sooner than that.

It was on a typical afternoon and Johnny gave Claudia a ride home on his bike. When they got to Claudia's house, Johnny locked his bike up to the fence. As he did this, Claudia ran into the house and left the front door open. This was Johnny's cue to run into the house after her. Slamming the front door behind him, he ran into Claudia's bedroom. He tackled her onto her bed and they had a tickle fight. As always, the tickling gave way to kissing,

He became lost in her soft, wet lips and her sweet smell. He was in paradise. Suddenly, Johnny was brought out of his trance when Claudia screamed.

"Johnny! What are you doing?" She had a terrified look in her eyes. He looked down and saw that his hand was up her skirt. She backed away from him. Johnny felt terrible.

"I-I'm sorry Claudia," he stammered. Claudia stood up and straightened her clothes. Johnny did the same. He stood there as Claudia sat at her dressing table and fixed her hair.

"You should go now," she said without looking at him. Just then they heard her parents' car pull into the driveway.

"They're home!"she said, turning to look at Johnny. "If they ask, tell them we we doing homework and that you were just leaving." She got up from her chair, grabbed Johnny's hand and led him to the front door. When they reached the door, Mr. And Mrs. Valenzuela walked into the house.

"Papi, this is Johnny," Claudia told her father. She had told her father about Johnny and Johnny had called the house a few times, but this was the first time they had met in person.

"Nice to finally meet you," Mr. Valenzuela said, extending his hand to Johnny.

"Nice to meet you too, Sir" he replied nervously and started toward the door. "We were just doing homework, Sir. Okay, bye." He had his hand on the doorknob when Claudia's mother addressed him.

"Johnny, would you like to stay for dinner?" Mrs. Valenzuela asked. Johnny and Claudia both heaved a sigh of relief.

"Sure, thanks."

During dinner, Johnny had a nice conversation with the Valenzuelas. Claudia's parents seemed genuinely interested when Johnny told them about his family. Little did he know, they were silently judging him.

"So where is it you said you lived, Johnny?" asked Claudia's mom.

"Across the train tracks. It's called The Rows," he answered. Claudia's parents exchanged looks. Johnny picked up on this.

"And what do your parents do for a living?"Claudia's father asked.

"Well, my dad's a musician, he plays drums in a band. My mom's a waitress. They both work nights." Johnny's parents' jobs were never an issue with anyone. But they seemed to be an issue for Mr. and Mrs. Valenzuela. They exchanged looks again. Again, Johnny noticed. The tension in the room grew. Johnny decided to excuse himself.

"It's getting late, I better go." he said. "Thank you for the dinner, Ma'am. It was delicious." He ran outside, unlocked his bike and rode off. It was dark outside and Mr. Valenzuela had offered to dive Johnny home. But that was before dinner, before Johnny had unintentionally proven he wasn't good enough for his little girl. Johnny didn't want Mr. Valenzuela to drive him home now, even though it took him almost an hour to peddle home from their house.

When he got over the tracks and back in his neighborhood, he rode past a group of older guys standing on a street corner. They were the kind of guys Johnny and his friends would later become. They called after Johnny.

"Hey kid, nice bike! Can I have it? I'll fight ya for it."

When Johnny arrived at his house, the car was gone but a light was on inside the house. One of his parents was home. He came in the front door and saw his mom pacing back and forth in the living room. She had been crying. When she saw Johnny, she ran to him and threw her arms around him.

"Johnny! What happened?" she said. "When you didn't come home at the time you told me on the phone, I called over there. He said you had already left. I thought he was giving you a ride."

"His car wouldn't start," Johnny lied. He pulled away from his mother.

"I need to finish my home work and then I'm going to bed," he told her. He went upstairs to his room. Mrs. DiMarco wanted to ask her son what happened. When she called the Valenzuelas, Claudia's father told her Johnny was no longer welcome in their home. She didn't quite know how to bring up the subject, however.

Later that night, Johnny had awakened to go to the bathroom. He heard his mom downstairs in the kitchen talking on the phone. When he came out of the bathroom, he sat at the top of the stairs to eavesdrop.

"I'm sorry, I don't have that kind of money," he heard his mom say. Who was she talking to?

"Well, I guess he's just going to have to stay there because I can't pay that." she said into the phone. Her voice was shaky like she was going to cry. Johnny came downstairs just as she hung up the phone. She turned around, startled to see him standing there.

"Johnny," she said, her voice still shaky. "Your father is in jail."

The next morning, Johnny tried to act as though everything was normal. He and Claudia barely spoke and there was an awkwardness between them. After school, Johnny biked home with his friends and Claudia walked home alone.

When Johnny and Drake turned onto their street, they saw a bunch of cars in front of Johnny's house. Johnny noticed TV cameras.

"Dude, what's going on at your house?"Drake asked. "There's reporters out front."

A crowd of people stood on the front lawn and someone was ringing the doorbell. Just then, Johnny's mom pulled into the driveway. She had just come back from getting the car from the impound lot and visiting Johnny's dad.

When she got out of the car, the reporters descended on her like vultures. Magda Lempky, Drake's mom, came out of the house next door. She picked up a rock and hurled it toward the crowd.

"Get the hell out of here!" she screamed at them. "Leave these people alone! They have nothing to say to you!" The crowd dispersed and left. Magda told Drake to go inside and look after his brothers. She then walked over to Johnny's mom and hugged her. Johnny then followed them into his house.

He sat at the kitchen table doing his homework while his mom sat with Magda in the living room. She was crying and Magda was comforting her. Johnny heard the TV turn on. Someone was flipping the channels.

"Halina, no," he heard Magda say. "Don't torture yourself this way." She tried to get the remote away from Johnny's mom.

"I want to see what they're saying about Tony," his mom insisted, jerking her arm away. Johnny came into the room just in time to see a clip of a drug bust that had happened last night. A group of people were being led away in handcuffs. Johnny spotted his dad. When she saw that Johnny was in the room, his mom turned off the TV.

Halina was too much of a nervous wreck to cook dinner so Magda took two cans of chili and put a pot on the stove for Halina and Johnny. Johnny sat next to his mother at the table and put his arms around her. She kissed his forehead. Just as she was leaving, Magda gave them each a hug.

"If you need anything, call me girl," she told Halina. Johnny's mom nodded.

The following day at school was awkward. As Johnny walked down the hall, everyone looked at him.

_Great, _he thought, _they all saw my dad on the news last night._ He tried to maintain composure as he opened his locker. Lucas and Bruce came up to Johnny with looks of concern on their faces.

"Dude, we saw the news last night," said Lucas. "Drake just told us what happened."

"We got your back, Johnny" said Bruce. "If anyone messes with you just tell us."

"Thanks guys," said Johnny. He loved his friends so much right now. They really did have his back. He appreciated it when Stacha and Mia fussed over him, even though he and Mia didn't always get along.

Later that day, Johnny passed by the principal's office on his way to the cafeteria. He saw Claudia and her parents coming out. They had just signed Claudia out of school. Claudia and her mom looked straight ahead but her dad glared at Johnny. He watched them as they walked out the front door, got in their car and left.

Two days later, on Saturday, Johnny was sitting on the sofa eating cereal and watching cartoons when the doorbell rang. He set the bowl down on the coffee table and got up to answer it. Claudia stood on his door step holding a shoe box. Her parents' sat in their car which was parked out front.

"Hey, Claudia," said Johnny. Claudia looked like she had been crying.

"I can't stay," she told him. "I just came to give you this." She handed him the box. Johnny took the top off and looked inside. Inside the box were ticket stubs from the movies they went to, notes they had passed each other in class and a black velvet jewel box.

Johnny didn't need to open the jewel box , he knew what was inside. He had recycled a lot of bottles and cans to earn enough money to buy Claudia a heart and key pendant for her birthday last month. He would later give it to another girl, Alli.

"We're moving back to Montreal," she told him. Just then, Mr. Valenzuela got out of the car, ran up to Claudia, grabbed her arm and led her away.

"Goodbye Claudia," said Johnny.

"Don't talk to her!" said Claudia's father. Claudia looked back at Johnny.

"Claudia, mire adelante!" he yelled at her, telling her to look straight ahead and not at Johnny. They got in the car and drove off. Johnny went back inside. His mom stood at the top of the stairs in her bathrobe.

"Who was that, Johnny?" she asked.

"Nobody," he answered as he ran upstairs.

"What's in the box?" she asked.

"Nothing!" he shouted as he brushed past her. He wnt onto his room and slammed the door.

Soon, the gossip around school about Johnny's dad's arrest was quickly replaced with gossip about Johnny getting dumped by Claudia. A week later, everyone stopped talking about Johnny and focused their attention on Mia.

Mia had thrown up in class one morning and was sent to the nurse. After school that day, Johnny saw Mia and Stacha sitting on the front steps of the school. Mia was crying and Stacha had her arm around Mia.

"What's wrong?" he asked the girls. They looked up at him.

"Not now, Johnny!" Stacha snapped. Johnny shrugged and went to get his bike. Mia's mom signed her out of Holy Cross the next day. She transferred to Lakehurst Middle School.

That summer Mia gave birth to a baby girl and Lucas was a father at 14.

A school year that started out with so much promise ended on a bad note for Johnny DiMarco and his friends. Things would only get worse from there.

**A/N: Sorry this chapter is so long. There's only one more chapter (a short one!) before the focus shifts to Johnny and Alli.**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: This is the last chapter before the story shifts. This chapter is a bridge between the young Johnny and the Johnny that exists today. Also, I know very little about the Canadian judicial system or their drug laws. I did some research but not extensive. So Canadians, feel free to correct any wrong information. **

**Chapter 3**

Right before Johnny's 8th grade graduation, his father was arraigned for the drug bust. Johnny and his mom went to the hearing. Tony DiMarco was one of twelve people indicted for possession of narcotics. The three dealers were indicted for possession of narcotics with the intent to sell. All of the buyers were sentenced to ten years in prison. Since it was the first offense for Tony and two others, they were eligible for parole after five years.

But what were Halina and Johnny supposed to do until Tony was up for parole? Five years was a long time and there was no guarantee he would even be granted parole. Halina was diagnosed with Lupus a year ago and it was starting to take its toll. It was affecting her joints and she couldn't stand for long periods of time. She was starting to miss a lot of work because of this.

When the bailiff put Tony handcuffs and led him out of the courtroom, he told Halina he loved her and she started to cry. He tried to get Johnny's attention but Johnny looked away. He was angry at his father. Not just for making his mother cry but for the erratic behavior he had exhibited since after Nonna died.

He hated not knowing what to tell his friends when they asked him why his dad always wore long sleeve shirts, even in the summer. But he hated the lies most of all. Tony was supposed to be at rehearsal on the night he was arrested. He didn't tell Halina he was kicked out of the band for missing rehearsals and gigs until she visited him in jail. On Johnny's last birthday, Tony promised Johnny his drum kit because he said he was buying himself a new one. Instead he sold the drum kit and never bought another one.

Graduation came and went with very little fanfare. Johnny and his friends had always assumed thy would go on to Academy of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or BVM. That was were their parents had gone and it was the high school for Holy Cross. But it turned out all of them would be going to Lakehurst High instead.

Johnny had gotten a scholarship for financial aid based on both academic achievement and family income. But the school rescinded the scholarship once his father's arrest and incarceration became public. Bruce's father played football for BVM and wanted Bruce to play football too. But he felt BVM's team wasn't as good as when he was on it so he enrolled Bruce into Lakehurst. Lucas and Stacha's mom could no longer afford private school tuition even with child support from their dad. Yet the family income was still too high for financial aid.

Nic's sister, Gina, had convinced her parents to send her to Lakhurst the previous year. His parents didn't want to pay tuition for one of their kids at BVM when the other was in public school. Drake's reputation for being a troublemaker at Holy Cross had reached the administration at BVM. They sent a letter kindly requesting that Magda and Dennis Lempky not enroll their son there. Mia had already to transferred to Lakehurst Middle for obvious reasons.

The summer between grade school and high school was quite busy. Bruce spent most of the summer at football camp to prepare for Lakehurst football. Drake' parents sent him to some boot camp for difficult kids in a vain attempt to rid Drake of his difficult behavior.

Mia of course had her baby, and talk about drama! Lucas wanted to see the baby, but Mia and her mom wouldn't let him because he never called or visited Mia after she left Holy Cross. Lucas' mom threatened to take both Mia and her mom to court for visitation rights so they relented. Lucas and Mia were once again a couple.

Johnny lost his virginity that summer.

Nic's family was having their annual Canada Day barbecue. Gina, taking full advantage of Johnny's longtime crush on her, flirted with him all afternoon. He willingly took that bait. They were putting ice down each others' backs, chasing each other and feeding each other potato salad. By dusk, they were having sex in Gina's room. All Johnny remembered about it were the fireworks outside and the smell of sunscreen on Gina's skin.

The next day, Gina told everyone that she and Johnny hooked up but that he was not her boyfriend. She just wanted to break him in before high school. Johnny hated Gina for that, especially since Nic, Bruce and Drake were still virgins.

"Do you plan on breaking them in too?" he asked.

"First of all, Nic is my brother, you tool," she said. "Bruce is too fat and I can't stand Drake's red hair and freckles."

Right before high school, Johnny DiMarco's life began to truly suck. His first girlfriend dumped him because he wasn't good enough for her family. His father was in jail and his mother's illness was getting worse. He lost his free ticket to a school that made Lakhuerst and Degrassi look like Kindergarten academically and his longtime crush used him. He decided to cut himself off from the world. The only people he trusted were his friends, and he didn't even trust them fully.

Thus began Johnny DiMarco's reputation as a player and a bad boy. At Lakehurst, he hooked up with random girls and harassed kids who were smaller and weaker than him because he just didn't care anymore. He still kept up his grades and made the honor roll every quarter because he liked learning and probably always would. But that didn't keep him from constantly getting detention for acting up.

Things didn't fare well for his friends, either. Lucas and Mia were constantly fighting. Lucas was either not coming around enough to see the baby or coming around too often. Bruce was on the freshman football team but his dad hoped he would be good enough to make Junior Varsity even though few freshman ever did. If Drake was a troublemaker in grade school, he was an even bigger troublemaker now and no one could figure out why. His parents' marriage was suffering partly because of his behavior. Nic's dad had just lost his job and was having a hard time finding another one.

The fact that they lived in The Rows further solidified their reputation as lowlifes. Although kids from The Rows made up half the student population at Lakehurst, they were still unfairly judged and disrespected by the other half.

Mia broke up with Lucas halfway through grade nine and started dating Nic. She continued dating him for a year after she started grade nine. But she dumped him when she transferred to Degrassi when she was in grade ten and he was in grade eleven. That made Nic Rancone hate Degrassi Community School even more than he already did. The rest of the clique hated Degrassi too. Not just because Nic did but because all the Rows kids did.

Degrassi was the "rich" school The non-Rows kids secretly wished they could go there. Like Holly J. Sinclair, whose sister had been going to Degrassi since grade seven. But when she started grade seven, the public school boundaries changed and she had to go to Lakehusrt Middle and then Lakehurst High. Her sister got to stay at Degrassi.

When Nic decided to declare "war" on Degrassi and Mia's new boyfriend in particular, the others followed. Early in their grade eleven year, Drake would fatally stab that kid and try and implicate Johnny. But Johnny was only an eyewitness, so nothing happened to him. The last thing Johnny's mom needed was to have both her husband and son in jail.

Right after Christmas break, an electrical fire destroyed Lakehurst High. Half the students transferred to Bardell High and the other half went to Degrassi. The half that got transferred to Degrassi included most of the Rows kids. Nic and Gina used their grandmother's address so they could attend Bardell. They both said they would rather die than go to Degrassi.

Stacha had changed her name from Anastacia Valieri to Jane Vaughn for some inexplicable reason. Johnny assumed it was to disassociate herself from her brother. It was bad enough for Stacha that Lucas had been held back in grade four and they were now in the same grade. But at Lakehurst and Degrassi, he was also known as one of the friends of that psycho who killed JT Yorke.

Johnny had made the honor roll every quarter at Degrassi too. Still the "good kids" got upset when they saw his name on the list. This time it was because of his involvement with the stabbing. All they did was whine when they saw his name on the list at Lakehurst. At Degrassi, people went so far as to cross Johnny DiMarco's name off the list with pen or magic marker. One time, someone actually whited his name out. Eventually, Ms. Hatzolakos began posting the list inside the trophy case.

Johnny freaked out when Drake stabbed JT. That wasn't part of the plan. They were just going to crash some party, get drunk and maybe rough some people up or get laid. He especially felt bad about peeing on JT's car on a dare since JT was lying in his pee when he died. Talk about an undignified death. Johnny wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy. Still, he would continue to be associated with the stabbing because he was there.

When he and his friends were given detention for doing something dumb right before spring break, Hatzolakos made Johnny an offer. He could get out of cleaning the school during that week if he agreed to go to some boot camp instead. A group called Red Pines sponsored a boot camp at one of the public high schools every year during spring break. That year it was Degrassi's turn.

Bruce and Lucas were given the same offer but decided to serve their detention Johnny accepted the offer initially to get out of being a free janitor for the school. But it turned out to be a nice vacation from everything. The only thing he didn't like was talking about his feelings. They had this thing where everyone sat in a circle and talked about the events that brought them to the camp.

"...Yeah, so after my friend stabbed that kid, I sort of went off the rails. I kept asking myself 'why do I have to be such a jerk?'" That was all he was going to give those people. He might have opened up a little more if two kids from his school, Peter Stone and Darcy Edwards, hadn't been there. He still had to see them again after this thing was over.

After that experience, Johnny decided to lay low. He was still up to his old tricks, but he hooked up with girls less often. Lucas had dropped out of school and Bruce got more involved with football, so he didn't spend as much time with them. Most of his free time was spent taking care of his mom, whose condition had gotten even worse.

At the beginning of his senior year, Johnny decided to take another vacation from his life. Juniors and Seniors who were taking Ecology Awareness were required to go on an overnight camping trip. Freshmen and sophomores could go on the trip also if there were enough spots available. The only way upperclassmen could get out of it was to have a proven schedule conflict or family situation. Technically, Johnny qualified but his mom and Magda insisted that Johnny go on the trip.

He was looking forward to getting out of the city even though he would be surrounded by people he didn't like. When Mr. Simpson gave out tent assignments, there were an odd number of boys, so one would have a tent to himself. Johnny volunteered to go solo because he didn't want to share a tent with anyone. Nobody wanted to share with him either, so it all worked out.

Johnny was glad the school provided tents and sleeping bags to anyone who didn't have them, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to go. He packed five books and a deck of cards so he could play solitaire if he got bored with reading. His strategy was to interact with people as little as possible.

But that changed when he met Alli.

**A/N: Sorry for the lack of dialogue in this chapter. I just wanted to bridge the gap between Claudia's part and Alli's part. **


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Here it is! The first real Jalli chapter. This story will be about Jalli from this chapter until the end. Everything is told from Johnny's POV since, on the show, it's presented from Alli's POV. I don't own Degrassi ,the book _Catcher in the Rye_ by JD Salinger, or the song "Brace Yourself" by Ellis.**

**Chapter 4**

Johnny was one of the first ones to arrive at school Saturday morning. He had ridden his bike to school because he didn't feel comfortable about leaving his car there overnight. He decided to read one of the books he'd brought, _Catcher in the Rye__. _It was one of his favorites. He must have read it about six times.

Johnny had always loved reading. Over the last few years his literary tastes shifted from Tolkien and Harry Potter to darker material like Kerouac and Algren. Usually, when Johnny was absorbed in a book, nothing could distract him. Today was different, however.

Two niners who had also arrived early were having a stupid conversation about insects or something. Johnny tried tuning them out but it was hard. That one kid with the glasses would not stop talking. Johnny was at the part where Holden was roughed up by Maurice, one of his favorite parts, but couldn't even concentrate. So he decided to say something to the little tool.

"Hey kid," Johnny started.

"The name's Connor," the kids said in a vain attempt at sounding tough. Johnny didn't care what the kid's name was, he just wanted him to shut up.

"Look, Connor," Johnny started. "I'm doing you a favor. No one wants to hear you talk about spotted moths." This stopped Connor dead in his tracks. Johnny went back to his reading. But he was distracted once more. This time, it was by some squeaky voiced niner girl. He didn't even bother looking up when she introduced herself, hoping she'd take the hint and go away. No such luck.

"What are you reading?" she asked.

"A book," answered Johnny sarcastically, hoping she'd take the hint this time. But no, she didn't this time either.

"That's a joke, right?" Duh!

"That would be correct," he said. Why wouldn't she just go away? At that point, Johnny wanted to strangle whoever had the bright idea of allowing niners to go on the trip in the first place. Just then, Simpson told everyone to get on the bus. Relieved, Johnny got on the bus and sat next to Freddy, a kid from his class. Freddy was listening to his headphones. Johnny could now read in peace.

When they got to the campsite, everyone set up their tents and hung out before the first group activity. Then Simpson and Johnny's science teacher, Mr. Phillips, announced the activity. It was some kind of scavenger hunt. Johnny hoped it would be quick and painless, which it was. All he had to do was stay away from Bug Boy and Squeaky.

When everyone got back from the activity, Johnny got his book out and sat in a lawn chair to read. He felt something hit him on the back of the head. It was Bug Boy, still talking about his boring obsession. He wasn't paying attention to where he was walking and had hit Johnny with his bug catcher thingy. Annoyed, Johnny stood up and punched a hole in it. When Bug Boy threatened Johnny, he looked the kid right in the eye and stood his ground. Bug Boy walked away, taking his friend with him.

"Personally. I hate spotted moths." said a squeaky voice. Johnny turned around. For the first time, Johnny got a good look at the girl who had been pestering him all morning. She wasn't bad looking. Hell, she was cute! She was petite and she had a dazzling smile. She also had the most amazing eyes ever.

Dark eyed girls were Johnny's weakness. He often caught himself staring at many a dark eyed beauty at school, even though he didn't like most of them. Girls like Manny Santos, Emma Nelson, Darcy Edwards, Jane Vaughn, Mia Jones, Liberty Van Zantdt and Chante Black. None of these girls would ever give him the time of day and he would never speak to them. Besides, he had known Jane and Mia most of his life. So, whenever any of them caught him staring, his admiring gaze switched to a hateful sneer.

The girl asked Johnny if he wanted to go for a walk in the woods and he took her up on it. She was a welcome distraction from Bug Boy. He learned that her name was Alli Bhandari and that she was the sister of Sav Bhandari. Johnny didn't like Sav very much. He had been one of the whiners at Lakehirst who got mad whenever Johnny made the honor roll. Johnny secretly hoped Sav would find out that his sister was alone with him in the woods and get pissed.

He also found out that Alli was in the niner gifted program along with Bug Boy and his friend. The kids in that program were known at Degrassi as the Baby Geniuses. So this chick was an intelligent airhead. Interesting.

Johnny was the perfect gentleman. He kept his hands to himself, except when Alli slipped and almost fell and he caught her. After they got back, Johnny and Alli had hotdogs, then Johnny excused himself to go back to his tent and read. Walking back to his tent, he heard people whispering about Alli, calling her Backwoods Bhandari. They had seen Alli and Johnny together in the woods. It wasn't Johnny's problem.

Johnny was almost finished reading _Catcher in the Rye_ when he put the book down to reflect on the day's events. He thought Bug Boy was a little old to still have some weird obsession with bugs. When Johnny was in grade five, he was obsessed with snakes. But he never bored people to death talking about them. Besides, snakes were far more interesting than spotted moths. He had a nice walk with Alli, though. She wasn't as bad as he had first thought.

Just as he opened up his book again, he heard scratching outside his tent. He opened the door to find Alli outside. She asked if she could come in and he moved aside to let her in. Johnny was curious as to what she might want. But then again, he really didn't want to get involved with this girl. People spreading rumors about them making out in the woods was one thing. Having rumors circulate that they hooked up in Johnny's tent could get Johnny into a lot of trouble. He wasn't willing to risk it. This girl couldn't be a day over fourteen.

He tried to dismiss her without being mean but she still wouldn't go. So he took his cards out and proposed a game of Crazy 8's. But she had other ideas.

"Poker," she said. Johnny thought she was so cute that for a split second he considered inviting her to jump in the sleeping bag with him. Forget the cards. But then he thought better of it. First of all, the sleeping bag wasn't his, it belonged tp the school. Plus, he remembered that this girl was a niner . Johnny may have done some bad things, but corrupting an underage girl was not one of them.

So it was a good thing that their shadows would show them sitting up. This Baby Genius turned out to be good at poker, but she couldn't bluff to save her life. She was gushing about how she didn't care about the game, she was just happy to spend time with Johnny. That's when Johnny saw it.

"Snake!" he shouted. He grabbed Alli's hand and led her out of the tent. Everyone heard Johnny and came out of their tents. Danny Van Zandt went into Johnny;s tent and came out with a garter snake. Garter snakes are totally harmless, but Johnny thought it was a Minnesota Rattler. His childhood snake obsession had failed him.

Simpson came out to restore order and everyone went back into their tents, the ones they were supposed to be in. Johnny found out Bug Boy was the one who put the snake in his tent as payback for damaging his bug catcher. Bug Boy was now Johnny's sworn enemy. For the rest of the year, Johnny and his friends would harass this kid mercilessly.

The next day Johnny was the first one awake, the first one packed and the first one on the bus. He'd had enough nature for two days. He couldn't wait to get home, shower and eat some real food.

He got stuck sitting behind Sav Bhandari who was arguing with his sister across the aisle. Sav was upset that she was in a tent alone with a boy. Johnny took satisfaction in the fact that he was that boy.

When they got back to Degrassi, Johnny got his bike and pedaled home. He heard Alli's call after him.

"Bye Johnny!" she called out in a sing song. She probably did that to make her brother mad. Johnny waved without looking back at her.

When he got home, his mom was sitting on the sofa watching a movie on TV.

"Hey Ma," said Johnny. "Did you get downstairs all by yourself?"He was concerned about his mom being alone overnight even though Magda was checking up on her. It was difficult for her to climb stairs in her condition.

"It took a while but I made it," his mom said smiling. "How was your trip?"

"Boring," said Johnny. "I'm gonna go unpack and chill before I get dinner started." Everyone at school who hated him would be surprised to find out that Johnny took care of his sick mother. Not that any of them would ever find out.

After he unpacked, he lay down on his bed and closed his eyes. Thoughts of Alli Bhandari kept popping into his head. As much as he tried driving them out, they kept coming back. She reminded Johnny of someone, but who?

In the following days at school, Johnny barely saw Alli and that was a good thing. Out of sight, out of mind. But on those rare occasions that he did see her, those beautiful eyes captivated him every time. And her voice sounded more familiar the more he heard it. But why?

He had overheard her tell the other Baby Geniuses how she wished someone would send her a rose and ask her to the Sweetheart Dance.

"You like spinning around in circles with sweaty teenage boys?" he joked. "Bruce can make that magic happen right now!" He pushed Bruce into Alli, but she moved out of the way just in time to avoid a collision.

Johnny wasn't sure why he liked messing with her when he should just leave well enough alone. He figured it was a way to control his thoughts and feelings. He didn't want to like this girl, but for some reason he did. Johnny liked to tempt fate sometimes, so he sent Alli a rose but left the card blank. She was smart, she'd figure out who sent it.

And figure it out, she did. She came into detention with some fake story about talking back to a teacher. Hell, Johnny did that on a regular basis, but rarely got detention for it. His transgressions were of a more serious kind.

She kept bugging him about how she knew he was the one who sent the rose. He kept stringing her along. Then he told her that dating would not be a good idea and told her why. She got all pouty and stood up to leave. Johnny thought it was too funny when Mr. Perrino made Alli sit back down, especially when they all knew that she didn't really have detention.

During that same week, the Baby Geniuses had to build a robot and teach it how to play basket ball. That Friday, the same day as the dance, they were to compete against other schools' robots. Johnny hadn't been into that sort of thing since grade school. But that didn't stop him from swinging by the competition to torture Alli.

He didn't even pay attention to the robots, he just kept staring at Alli. She noticed him and came over to him, asking him why he was there. He made up a story about having a brother who was competing. She didn't buy it and he didn't expect her to.

"It's just weird to like a niner," he confessed. She asked him if he was going to the dance. He told her he didn't "do" dances, especially with niners. She told him she was going and she was going to look hot. Johnny didn't doubt that for a second.

Against his better judgement, he asked Magda to stay with his mom while he had some stuff to do. She agreed. He hated imposing on her when she had her own family to take care of. But he had to see Alli.

When he got to the dance, the song "Brace Yourself" by Ellis was playing. Johnny liked that song but he would never admit it to anyone. Alli was standing next to the table where her brother and his girlfriend were taking tickets. He walked right past her and turned in the ticket he bought that afternoon. He walked into the caf and went straight to the punch bowl. He could feel Alli following behind him. As he poured himself some punch, Alli sidled up to him.

"Meet me on the back steps in two minutes,"he whispered as he poured her a cup of punch. Taking a sip from his cup, he left the caf without looking at her. She met him on the back steps just as she was told. She wasn't lying about looking hot.

"I like this song," he said, making direct eye contact.

"Aw, so do I!" said Alli

"Yeah, rub it in, why don't you?" he chuckled.

"So what made you change your mind about the dance?" she asked.

"I don't know," he lied. He knew damn well.

"You do like me,"said Alli. "A lot."

"You're tripping Backwoods," said Johnny. Then he impulsively leaned over and gave her a peck on the lips. She jumped back, squealed and covered her mouth. Now where had Johnny seen that before?

"Was that your first kiss?" he asked, even though it was obvious that it was.

"The next one won't be," she giggled nervously. Johnny laughed and stood up to leave.

"Hey,where are you going?" asked Alli. "You just got here."

"I've got stuff I gotta do," said Johnny. Like take care of his mother. He went back inside the school and left her sitting there.

That night Johnny had a dream. Alli was standing before him wearing a Holy Cross uniform. She was giggling.

"I beat you again, Johnny!" she teased. "You've lost your touch, what happened?" Johnny sat up in bed. Claudia! He hadn't thought about her in years. This explained everything. Claudia and Alli had similar voices, the same infectious giggle, the same pretty smile and those beautiful brown eyes.

Johnny couldn't fall back asleep after that.

At school on Monday, Johnny had written Alli a note and slipped it in her locker.

"_Alli – _

_Sorry I left the dance so early. Could you meet me in the back alley after school? I want to talk to you. _

_Johnny _

_P. S. No, this isn't a joke._"

After school, he stood waiting for Alli. He started to worry that maybe she didn't see the note or that she was mad at him. But then she came running around the corner. She stopped when she saw Johnny. She was out of breath.

"Ready for your second kiss?" he asked.

"Uh, huh," she said nodding.

"Come here," he said opening his arms. She ran to him and he wrapped his arms around her. He gave her a long, wet, slow kiss. He slipped his tongue in her mouth, she didn't seem to mind at all. When they separated, she looked up at him with those eyes.

"I do like you, a lot," he told her. "We can hang out, but you can't tell anyone. Understand?"

"Yes,' she whispered.

"You better get home before your parents wonder where you are." She nodded and walked back around the corner.

Someone else in this situation might not have taken the chances Johnny did. But Johnny liked the adrenaline rush he got when he tempted fate.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: You may have already seen that this story has been renamed. I thought Open Your Heart was a better title since this is more of a Johnny story than a Jalli story. Someone asked me in a review what kind of chances Johnny took just to be with Alli. Hopefully, this chapter will begin to explain the personal risks Johnny takes as he starts to let his guard down.**

**FYI: In case anyone was wondering, the age of consent in Canada is 16 and the cable channel AMC (American Movie Classics) has been available in Canada since 2006 (both according to Wikipedia).  
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**Chapter 5**

Johnny DiMarco's female companions came in two categories First there were friends with benefits who knew how to be discreet. They didn't ask Johnny about his other conquests and he didn't ask them about theirs. They knew their boundaries and never expected more from Johnny than a simple hookup with no strings attached. Megan Rothman was Johnny's first and best friend with benefits. He met her back in grade nine at a party at Nic Rancone's. They started talking, the talking soon gave way to kissing and the kissing gave way to something more. They did it on Nic's parents' bed under a pile of coats. They still got together once in a while.

Then there were the girls who used Johnny to piss off their parents or ex boyfriends or the girls who wanted to live on the edge, They bought into Johnny's bad boy rep and they found it intriguing. These girls were sometimes a hassle. Most of them saw the hookup as a business transaction. Others, however, got way too attached. Like Jenny Douglas back in grade ten. After they hooked up, she thought she was Johnny's girlfriend. She thought they were destined to be together just because they had the same initials and their first names sounded alike. Once, she wrote all over one of her notebooks _Jenny D Luv__'s Jonny D 4 Ever! _When she showed it to Johnny, he was not amused.

"That's not how my name's spelled," he told her.

"I know," she giggled. "But it looks better this way." Johnny took the notebook, tore off the cover and ripped the cover into little pieces. He then threw the pieces in her face and walked away. She came after him, finally catching up to him at his locker.

"Why did you do that?" she demanded. Johnny turned around and looked at her like she was crazy. Bruce, Lucas, Nic and Drake were standing right there.

"Who the hell are you?" he yelled at her. "Do I even know you?" His friends started laughing. Embarrassed, Jenny stood there, her eyes welling up with tears.

"Go away, stalker!" he yelled. By that point, everyone in the hallway was watching and they all started laughing. Jenny ran into the girls' bathroom. A week later, she transferred to Bardell.

But this new girl, Alli, didn't fall into either of these categories. Sure, she probably heard of Johnny and his rep though gossip at school like most of his hookups did, but her approach was different. Instead of being up front and flirtatious, she was friendly and chill. Yet Johnny couldn't deny the spark that existed between them.

Initially, they communicated by dropping notes in each other's locker. Alli suggested sending e-mails but Johnny only had internet access at school and didn't want to risk having teachers and other students reading over his shoulder. Two years ago, it wouldn't have been a big deal for them to be together. But Johnny was 17 and he could get in a lot of trouble if people found out he was kicking it with a 14 year old. Even if they weren't having sex, people talk and rumors get spread. Johnny could get arrested just on suspicion. He couldn't afford to go to jail and leave his mom alone.

They arranged meetings in the alley behind school. He would swing his car around and pick her up, both of them looking around nervously to make sure no one saw them. They would find a place to park that was out of the way. They would listen to the radio, talk and make out before Johnny drove Alli to the end of her block.

Johnny could talk to Alli about things he couldn't talk about with anyone else. They both loved to read and he was surprised to find out she liked some of the same authors as he did. They both also liked classic movies as opposed to recent blockbusters. They had both been to the Art House to see old movies many times. Johnny liked gritty dramas like _The Hustler_ and _The Man with the Golden Arm_ whereas Alli loved musicals like _Sound of Music _and _West Side Story._ Musicals weren't Johnny's thing but at least she liked the classics and not _High School Musical _or _Hannah Montana._

"I'm 14 not 10!" she snorted when Johnny asked her what she thought of that kiddie fare.

"Good, just checking," he told her. He actually enjoyed the conversation more than the kissing. One Friday, Johnny dropped a note in Alli's locker asking her to call him at home over the weekend and included his number. Lately he had been staying home on the weekends in case his mom needed him but he couldn't bear not hearing Alli's voice for even two days.

She called on Saturday afternoon while Johnny's mom was napping. They talked for two hours about books, movies and music. He was surprised that she like bands like Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet for My Valentine and Escape the Fate. While these bands were a little tame for Johnny's taste but they were still cool.

"So watcha doin' at home on a Saturday?" asked Alli. "Got any exciting plans for tonight?"

"Nope," he said. "Gonna watch a movie on AMC." That was one of the few channels Johnny ever watched.

"So, if you have cable, why don't you have internet?" she asked. Everyone she knew had both or neither.

"Too expensive to have both," he explained. The truth was, everyone in the Rows had cable, it was included in their rent. Otherwise, no one would be able to watch TV because the reception was so bad due to interference coming from the train tracks. Plus, Johnny didn't have a computer at home.

Johnny was relieved when Alli accepted that explanation. He didn't want her to know where he lived. He figured that like most kids at Degrassi, the only way for Alli to have even heard of the Rows was on the evening news.

This arrangement seemed to working for Johnny and Alli for a while. Until one day as Johnny stopped at his locker before lunch, Holly J. Sinclair came up to him.

"I hear you and Backwoods Bhandari were an item," she said. He saw Alli standing a few feet away and gave her a dirty look. He denied everything. Holly Jackass Sinclair was one of the last people he wanted prying into his personal life.

Johnny was pissed! Alli had given him her word that she wouldn't tell anyone and now one of his sworn enemies knew their secret. He had no choice but to break it off with her. He knew something like this would happen. He slipped a note in her locker.

"_It's over, Backwoods. I told you it wasn't going to work. Don't call me, don't drop notes in my locker, and don't even look at me when you pass me in the halls. I mean it!" _

When school let out, Alli followed Johnny out the front door of the school. God, she had suddenly turned into Jenny Douglas! She begged and pleaded for Johnny to take her back but Johnny refused. He explained the reasons why this whole thing was a bad idea. He left Alli standing there alone as he walked out to his car.

The next day, Bruce told Johnny that Alli had started some internet group called "I Hate Holly J" in honor of the previous day's events. Johnny didn't care. That was between Backwoods and Holly Jackass.

Johnny did feel bad for Alli when the group got out of hand and she was forced to shut it down. She had to make a public apology on the video announcements. Johnny's punishments consisted of either sitting in a classroom with some teacher who didn't want to be there any more than he did or doing janitorial work. As much as he hated both, they could give him a mop and bucket any day over making him apologize in front of the entire school. He began to reconsider breaking up with her.

Alli did as Johnny asked. She stopped calling his house on the weekends, she stopped dropping notes in his locker and whenever she passed Johnny in the hallway, she immediately looked away. But she just looked so sad. Her beautiful brown eyes didn't have the sparkle they once had.

She was apparently having some kind of wardrobe crisis one day. He overheard her whining to her friend Clare about how she no longer had anything to wear and she wasn't pretty anymore. She showed up at school wearing a grey hoodie and brown pants. Johnny still thought she was pretty. He decided to mess with her to let her know he was once again keeping tabs on her.

"Love the look, Bhandari," Johnny teased. Alli looked like she wanted to die. But hey, at least he got a reaction. By that afternoon, the Anti Grapevine posted a video of Alli kissing KC, a boy in her class. Johnny decided to track her down and find out if she had indeed moved on.

Alli confessed to Johnny that it was a mistake to kiss KC because he was Clare's boyfriend. She refused to look Johnny in the eye as she told him this.

"Why do you care?" she asked. "You're just glad it wasn't you." Johnny bent down so his eyes could meet Alli's.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked.

"Do you miss hanging out?" she asked.

"It's complicated," he said. She had no idea.

"I'm a bad, bad guy Backwoods," he continued. "You're better off without me." He was giving her a chance to decide if he was worth pursuing again. He hoped to God that she would. He started walking away and then turned back around.

"You know, Alli," he told her. "No matter what you wear, you always look good to me." He turned and walked away. He told her that because it was the truth and because it meant a lot to her.

Now, it was time to drop a note in someone's locker.

Johnny had cooked beef stew for dinner that night. He enjoyed cooking for his mom and she appreciated his efforts, even though all he could really do was heat up the contents of a can. But most of all, he loved spending time with his mom. He tried putting Alli out of his mind but he worried that she didn't get the note or she chose to ignore it.

When he and his mom finished eating, Johnny helped his mom out of her kitchen chair and over to the living room sofa so she could watch TV before going to bed. He went back into the kitchen to clear the table when the phone rang. Johnny answered it on the first ring.

"Yeah?" he said into the receiver.

"Hi Johnny," said a shy female voice on the other end. Alli had gotten the note asking her to call him.

"I'm sorry Backwoods," he said. "I was a douche bag."

"No, I was," she insisted. "I have this bad habit of messing up a good thing."

"You and me both," he chuckled. "Besides, it's hard for me to stay mad at someone as sweet as you."

Now where did that last comment come from? Johnny had never said anything like that to a girl and actually meant it. He could practically hear Alli smiling through the phone.

"We can loosen up a bit, but we still need to be discreet, okay?" he continued. "Because of the age thing and because of my rep. In case you haven't noticed, Alli, I'm not the most well liked guy in school." Johnny didn't doubt that Alli had heard about JT Yoke's death and his involvement in that.

"I know a lot of people don't like you, including my brother," she said. "But I never really understood why. I asked Sav and he wouldn't tell me." Maybe she hadn't heard.

"You never heard about the stabbing last year?" He asked curiously. If she hadn't heard, Johnny wanted her to hear the truth from him.

"I remember seeing something about it on the news and I've heard people talk at school," she said. "But you were found innocent right?"

"Something like that," he said. Johnny was 16 when the case went to trial and Johhny was sentenced to five years' probation. He promised himself he would one day tell Alli the truth about what happened. He didn't trust the news or the Degrassi gossip mill.

"I'm glad you don't hate me anymore, Johnny," she said innocently.

:"I never did hate you Bhandari," he said. They talked a little more before saying good night and hanging up.

As Johnny cleaned up the kitchen, he thought about his involvement with Alli.. Sure, she reminded him of Claudia but the similarities were subtle and very few. More importantly, she reminded him of a simpler time in his life, one that he wished had never ended.

After he finished, he checked on his mom in the living room. She turned around and smiled at him.

"It's getting cold in here," he told his mom. "I'm gonna bump up the heat a little." He adjusted the thermostat accordingly.

"Thank you, baby," she said. Johnny turned off the TV, helped her get upstairs and got her ready for bed.

After kissing his mom good night, Johnny showered and got dressed. Instead of changing into his pajamas, he put on clean socks and underwear plus a clean pair of jeans and a clean t-shirt. He then grabbed his shoes, jacket and hat and went into his mom's bedroom. He set his shoes on the floor next to the bed, hung his jacket and hat on the bed post and lay down on top of the covers next to his mom.

She was fast asleep. But Johnny had to be ready in case something happened to her in the middle of the night and he had to rush her to the hospital.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Welcome to the longest chapter in the story! I don't own Degrassi, the book _Animal Farm _by George Orwell or the song "Bloody Kiss" by Latefallen. HPV information is courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control. **

**Chapter 6**

Johnny's unusual nightly routine came about out of necessity. Three weeks ago, Johnny was asleep in his own bed when he was awakened by his mom coughing. It sounded like she was trying to hack up a lung. He threw on a pair of jeans, slipped his bare feet into his shoes and grabbed his jacket. He ran into his mom's room, wrapped her up in her blanket and carried her out to the car. Then he drove her to the emergency room.

They waited for nearly an hour before a doctor could see Johnny's mom. She received a breathing treatment to restore her breathing. The doctor told Johnny if this happened again he should give her some hot liquid to drink like coffee or tea to help open her bronchial passages. If that didn't work, he should then bring her back to the hospital.

But he wasn't taking any chances. So he modified his bedtime ritual in order to act more quickly in an emergency. Besides, it proved to be convenient in the long run. If he got through the night without incident, all he had to do in the morning was brush his teeth, put on deodorant and eat breakfast. Then he just put on his shoes, jacket and hat and was out the door just as the nurse from the health department arrived.

The initial scare happened on the night before Holly Jackass confronted him about Alli. He was running on two hours of sleep and he arrived at school late. He was given detention because it was his third tardy that week. Finding out about Alli's betrayal from the biggest bitch in school was just the icing on the cake.

Fortunately, his mom hadn't had another episode since and things between him and Alli were back to the way they were. Johnny was looking forward to seeing her this evening. She wasn't able to meet up after school because she was preparing for the Einstein Math Competition with the other Baby Geniuses. So they made plans to get together after dinner. They both agreed to tell their parents they had to go to the library. Technically, it wasn't a lie. They went to the library, they just didn't go inside. They sat in Johnny's car in the parking lot.

Alli was stressing out about an upcoming math competition that the Baby Geniuses were being forced to compete in. Johnny gave her a hug to make her feel better and then kissed her to help get her mind off the stress. They had been making out for about forty five minutes when Johnny looked out the corner of his eye at the car radio clock.

"Alli" he said between kisses. "We need to stop. It's almost nine and I wouldn't want you to get in trouble." Begrudgingly, Alli got out of the car and walked the half block home.

"Thanks for staying with Mom," Johnny told Magda when he got home. Magda had just finished cleaning the kitchen. Before leaving, she gave Johnny and his mother a hug.

"How was the library, honey?" Johnny's mom asked. "Did you get your paper done?"

"Yeah Ma, I did," Johnny said. He had actually finished his paper for Ms. Kwan's class in the library at school. He hated lying to his mom and sneaking around behind her back, but he wasn't ready to tell her about Alli. He had no idea how far this relationship was going to go. They had already broken up once.

The next day before lunch, Alli visited Johnny at his locker. She told him that _The Hustler _was playing at the Palace and she wanted to take him. As tempting as that offer was, Johnny wasn't ready to take the chance of going out with Alli in public. Just talking to her in school was risky enough for Johnny.

"I promised Bruce I'd hang out with him at the ravine," he said. It was true, Bruce had been getting on Johnny's case lately about how they never hung out anymore. Alli invited herself to tag along and Johnny tried to talk her out of it. The ravine was no place for a good girl like her.

She persuaded him to reconsider, however. He found it hard to say no to her when she looked at him with those eyes. Besides, a lot of older guys hung out with younger girls in the ravine. No one would make a big deal. Whatever happened in the ravine, stayed in the ravine.

When Alli arrived at the ravine that afternoon, she turned heads. Alli was a pretty girl who looked older than 14. She was with her friend, Clare, who paled in comparison.

"Have you hit that yet?" Bruce asked Johnny. Johnny shot Bruce a look. What the hell kind of question was that? Alli wasn't just another one of his conquests.

"Don't tell me you haven't thought about it," said Bruce. Sure, Johnny had thought about being intimate with Alli many times but it wasn't about that. He respected and cared about Alli.

Johnny and Bruce built a bonfire to fend off the October chill. Johnny had a good discussion about books with Alli and Clare. Like Johnny, the girls liked Orwell. Clare Edwards used to make Johnny uncomfortable. He had made out with her sister Darcy on the roof of Degrassi when she had her meltdown last year. But out of respect for Alli, he decided to give Clare a chance and found her to be nice.

"Wait, you mean pigs started the Russian Evolution?" Bruce asked Clare. Why did he even join the discussion when he'd never even picked up a book?

Clare had to leave and tried to get Alli to leave with her. Deep down, Johnny hoped Alli would go. It was for her own good. The Baby Geniuses had their math competition tomorrow. But Alli convinced Clare to leave without her.

The song "Bloody Kiss" by Latefallen was playing on the radio someone had brought. He turned up the volume. Johnny didn't like that song at first but when he found out Alli liked it, he changed his mind. Looking for a place to be alone, they found a makeshift tent someone had constructed under a tree.

"It's perfect. Just you, just me," said Alli, quoting a line from the show _West Drive._ It was one of her favorite shows.

"You think we're in the middle of some epic romance," Johnny teased. Clearly, Johnny had never even seen the show. Alli, referred to Johnny as the misunderstood bad boy. Johnny told Alli she was amazing.

They had been making out pretty hot and heavy when Bruce walked by and threw a handful of condoms at them. Alli picked one up and propositioned Johnny. Against his better judgement, Johnny agreed. He stood up, took Alli by the hand and led her to the abandoned van that had been in the ravine for as long as anyone could remember.

Johnny didn't like hooking up in the van. There was just something about laying where so many others have expelled their bodily fluids. But it would have to do under the present circumstances even though Alli deserved better.

There were two important rules for hooking up in the van. When it's cold outside, don't take off all your clothes, just your pants and underwear and maybe your jacket. Not only was the van's transmission shot, but nothing else seemed to work either, including the heater.

And, for God's sake, put a blanket down! People over the years had brought various sheets, blankets and comforters and left them in the van. They hadn't been washed in who knows how long, but they were better than lying on that disgusting shag carpeting. Besides, who wanted rug burns on their ass?

Throughout the whole ordeal, Johnny's mind was elsewhere. Maybe he should have accepted Alli's offer and gone to the movie with her. He supposed he could have dealt with having people from school see them if he had to.

When it was over and they had put their pants back on, Alli looked pretty shaken up. Johnny wanted to hold her in his arms and comfort her, but when he reached out to touch her, she flinched and moved away. She sat up, put her jacket back on and told Johnny she had to go. She rejected Johnny's offer of a ride home.

"You're not walking home alone!" Johnny insisted. If Alli left the van by herself, she would be taunted by the everyone outside. But if Johnny came out with her, they would leave her alone and give Johnny his props.

Neither of them said a word during the drive home. When Johnny dropped Alli off at the end of her block, she couldn't get out of the car fast enough. She practically ran down the street and into her house.

Johnny felt horrible. He had imagined his first time with Alli to be way different than this. He hoped everything would be perfect. They would be in a bed and would have been able to take their time. Afterwards, they would cuddle and fall asleep in each other's arms.

Who was he kidding? He had never had a sexual experience like that and probably never would. Still, he had to find way to make it up to Alli.

At school the next morning, Johnny snuck up behind Alli as she stood at her locker. He tickled her and she must have jumped two feet into the air. She asked Johnny not to call her by her embarrassing nickname and demanded to know Johnny's middle name. She was looking for some some sort of connection, a way to justify what happened last night.

Johnny told Alli his middle name and asked if she was okay. Without answering, she excused her self to get ready for the math competition. This was the opposite of what Johnny usually experienced the morning after a hookup. The other girls sought him out and he avoided them.

At home, Johnny rummaged around in his sock drawer until he found the locket he gave Claudia four years ago. He was determined to make things right again.

The next morning, he told Alli that he knew she wasn't ready but that he wanted to believe she was. He presented her with the locket but she wouldn't accept it. Johnny would end up giving it to the person he should have given it to in the first place, his mom.

After school Alli told Johnny she wasn't going to have sex again for a long time. Johnny knew he had to respect that. He agreed to take things slowly with her. He told Alli it was also his first time in order to make her feel better about what they had done. Unbeknownst to Johnny, that little white lie would come back and bite him in the ass.

Johnny and Alli decided to go public with their relationship but on one condition, no excessive PDA. Johnny thought it was tacky when other couples engaged in it and he felt he and Alli didn't need to prove to everyone they were together. Besides, the Anti Grapevine had run an exclusive regarding their status. It was all everyone could talk about all morning.

As Johnny was putting his books in his locker before lunch, he sensed someone behind him. He turned around to see Megan Rothman standing there. The last time they spoke was when Johnny needed to vent about the whole 'I hate Holly J' thing. Of course he denied his relationship with Alli to her as well.

"Hey Meg," he said smiling. She didn't smile back.

"So it's true?" she asked. "You're with Sav Bhandari's sister? Isn't she in grade nine?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"All these years I'd been waiting for our friendship to turn into something more, for you to make the first move, Johnny." She sounded like she was about to cry.

"Meg, I had no idea you felt that way. You never said anything."

"Right, how was I supposed to do that after the way you treated Jenny Douglas? I always assumed you didn't want to be tied down."

"You and Jenny are two completely different people, Meg." Months ago, Johnny would have asked Megan to be his girlfriend had he known how she felt. But that was before he met Alli.

"You know what?" she said tearfully. "Have fun with your little girlfriend. You better hope her parents don't call the cops on your ass." She turned and walked away without looking back.

_Meg's a tough chick, she'll bounce back in no time, _Johnny told himself. Then he focused his thoughts on Alli.

They had made plans to go to Wonderland that Saturday, taking advantage of the amusement park's last weekend open until it closed for the winter. Alli told her parents she was going with Clare and her family. Johnny told his mom he was going with Bruce.

They had a great time. In the arcade, they took photos in the photo booth. They had two strips taken, Johnny kept one and Alli kept the other. After the photos, Johnny won Alli a stuffed dog in Skee Ball. That stuffed dog would be the cause of their second breakup.

Shortly after their trip to Wonderland, Alli started going all Jenny on him again. She tried to sit on his lap in public, talked baby talk and did other embarrassing things. Johnny took her aside and reminded her of their agreement. Her solution to the problem was to give him a cell phone with two months prepaid access. Johnny didn't get how that was a good thing. Johnny didn't have a cell phone, not only because he couldn't it, but because he didn't like the idea of anyone being able to locate him every hour of the day.

Yet Johnny took the phone anyway and about five minutes later, he was glad she did. Alli would later explain the difference between texting and sexting. Johnny had no reason to know the difference until now. Seeing those pics of Alli with her shirt off sent Johnny into full on player mode. When Alli invited Johnny to her house after school, presumably to discuss a book she knew from cover to cover, Johnny hoped they'd have time to do something else before her parents came home.

But once Alli batted her pretty eyelashes Johnny let her talk him into posing for pictures with the Wonderland pooch. Big Mistake.

Of course perverted thoughts began to dominate Johnny's brain, especially when Alli stepped it up and sent home some full frontal photos later that night. The next day, he surprised Alli by waiting at the end of Alli's block and driving her to school. His strategy was to pour on the charm in hopes that they could have sex again. This time in a more ideal place than the van.

"Aw, widdle Johnny 'fraid of the dark?" Bruce's mocking tone greeted Johnny and Alli as they walked into school. Johnny looked at the wall in the front hallway and saw a photo of himself and the pooch. One of many that Alli promised not to show anyone. When Alli refused to take it down, Johnny ripped it off the wall himself.

He threatened to send Alli's full frontals to Bruce but it was only a threat. He accidentally pushed the send button when Alli tried to wrestle it away from him. While Alli frantically ran down the hall to try and locate Bruce, Johnny went out to his car and put the cell phone in the glove compartment. School authorities could search his locker but not his car. Johnny wasn't going to take the fall for this one. Let Alli get in trouble. He never told her take naked pics of herself.

He ran into Alli that afternoon. She got in his face and demanded the cell phone back. He might have given it back if she had asked nicely, but that wasn't the case.

"Give me my phone back, loser!" was what she actually said. Johnny wasn't going to give it back to her if she was going to talk to him like that. He was going to make her work for it. This was going to be fun.

Well, it just so happened that Alli and Bruce got off with a slap on the wrist while Johnny got a weeks' detention. He had Peter Stone to thank for that. He once took a video of Manny Santos taking her top off and e-mailed it to the whole school. Even though Johnny didn't take those photos of Alli and only three people saw them (five if you count Mr. Simpson and Ms. Hatzilakos), Johnny had to stay after school all week and clean the music room. Apparently it was pretty dirty.

To hell with Hatzo's zero tolerance policy!

He overheard Alli and her little friends, Clare and Jenna, talking about how they were going to get to school early and break into his locker to steal the phone back. Jenna was going to bring a bolt cutter to school to cut the lock.

He showed up early the next morning too. He opened his lock so the bolt cutter wouldn't be necessary. Then he hid in the boys' bathroom across the hall, opened the door just a a crack and waited for the show to begin. It was pretty entertaining to watch the three niner girls carry out their reconnaissance mission. The only thing of value they found was the photo strip from Johnny and Alli's day at Wonderland. This made Alli all sentimental. _Girls are so predictable!_ thought Johnny.

Johnny finally surrendered and gave Alli back the phone while she was in Media Immersion. He was tired of playing games.

That night in the shower, he noticed a wart or a pimple on his ball sac. He wasn't sure where it came from, all he knew was that it wasn't there the night before. He remembered when Dr. Sally came to school last year and talked about genital warts, or HPV as she called it.

He still had the pamphlet somewhere in his room. He found it in his desk drawer and read it. The pamphlet said that 50% of all sexually active adults will have HPV at some point in their lives. Apparently you can have it for years before the warts appeared. If someone has had multiple partners like Johnny, there was no telling which one they got it from. When people transmit HPV, they often don't know that they even have it. This meant Johnny may have passed it to Alli unknowingly. Condoms didn't always protect against HPV. Johnny was going to have to come clean.

She met him in the Music room after school and he told her everything because she deserved to know. With any other girl, he might have been so considerate. But Alli , despite everything that had happened, was special to him. She didn't take the news about the STD or his other partners very well at all, but it was better that she knew.

Johnny hoped that the pettiness had finally come to an end. He was wrong.

He was mopping the floor of the practice room in the back of the main music room when n walked Jenna. A lot of guys thought she was hot. She didn't do anything for Johhny. He wasn't into blue eyed blondes. As far as Johnny was concerned, only his mom could do justice to blonde hair and blue eyes. Plus Jenna was fat. She wasn't aware of that, however, seeing as she always wore skimpy clothes. _Alli could rock that mini skirt way better! _thought Johnny. _But Alli's a lady and would never be seen in that._

Jenna walked seductively toward Johnny, or tried to anyway. Johnny took off the headphones he was listening to.

"Hey Johnny DiMarco," God her voice was annoying. If Alli's voice was high pitched, Jenna sounded like Minnie Mouse on helium. "I've seen you around school."

"Your eyes work, good." he replied with his trademark sarcasm. Johnny. Who knew a set up when he saw one, decided to play along. He was immune to Jenna's flirting. When she mentioned the possibility of a medical condition that might prevent him from hooking up with her, he decided to put an end to the game.

"Your friend, Alli, is the only girl I want," he told her truthfully. Jenna turned and ran out of the practice room. There was some sort of performance going on in the main room and there was a bunch of people in there.

"He loves you, Alli" Jenna squealed. Her voice echoed. She was wearing a wire. All those people had heard Johnny's confession. Some cheered while others laughed. Johnny didn't know how he was going to live this down.

The next day, Johnny visited Alli at her locker. Jenna and Clare left so the two of them could have some privacy. Why did Alli always have to look so good when things between them were so bad?

"You hold all the cards," he told her, using the lingo from Poker, the game they played when they first met. "Are you upping the stakes?" For the first time ever, Johnny had relinquished control to a girl.

"I can't play with someone I don't trust," she replied. "Game over." Fair enough.

"Bhandari," said Johnny. "It may not have been my first time, but it was the first time with someone I actually cared about."

"Goodbye Johnny," she said and walked away.

Johnny was hoping Alli would take him back but maybe it was a good thing that she didn't. There was no guarantee that something like this wouldn't happen again.

Both of them were tired of the games.

**Whew! Sorry for the long chapter, but if you got this far, I thank you for your patience. I know some of the events and dialogue from "Shoot to Thrill" and "You Be Illin'" weren't exactly accurate and I hope you'll all forgive me.**

**Only the epilogue is left. It'll be short, I promise.**


	8. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

It had been two weeks since Johnny last spoke to Alli at her locker and he was starting to miss her. Every time they passed in the halls, Johnny tried to smile or say hi but Alli always looked the other way. While he had no idea what was going to happen with Alli, Johnny never wanted anything like this.

He could have just learned to deal with Alli's niner giddyness and things might have worked out. He also knew that he should have never lied about being a virgin. But Johnny had absolutely no idea how to have a relationship. His last girlfriend was when he was a year younger than Alli.

It was time, once again, to drop a note in someone's locker and pray that person reads it.

When the phone rang later that evening, Johnny answered it on the first ring.

"Hi," said a shy female voice on the other end.

"You called," said Johnny. "I guess you do trust me after all."

"I don't want to fight anymore," said Alli.

"Then come out with me Saturday,." Johnny said. "I promise to be a perfect gentleman and keep my hands to myself. And I promise to have you home by a respectable time," he added half jokingly. Alli giggled.

"Okay," she said.

The next day at school, Alli said hello to Johnny on the halls. Johnny smiled and said hello back.

"So you're back to diaper duty?" asked Bruce. Johnny shot him a look. Bruce backed off.

When school let out, Johnny heard someone call him as he walked out the front door. He turned around to see Alli standing there with Clare.

"See you tomorrow?" she asked.

"See you tomorrow," Johnny replied. As he walked away, he overheard Clare ask Alli if she was crazy. Alli told her to mind her own business.

The next day, Johnny picked Alli up at the end of her block and took her to the Break Room. He taught her how to play pool.

"You seem to have a knack for this," he told her.

"Really?" she said. "Do you think I'm good enough to beat you?"

"No," he replied, laughing. She playfully swatted his arm and then said she was hungry. Johnny ordered food for both of them.

"Gimme two Italian beef sandwiches, dipped, with provolone, please," he told the girl behind the counter. "And two large Cokes, please. Oh, and hot giardinera on the side."

"What's hot jardin..." Alli asked, struggling with the word giardinera.

"You'll see," said Johnny, smirking.

When the food was ready, Johnny carried it to a table and sat down. Alli sat across from him. She picked up the small plastic cup and looked at it. It just looked like vegetables.

"You put a little of that on your sandwich," he told her, which she did. She took a bite out of her sandwich and her eyes bugged out of her head. She put down her sandwich, picked up her soda and nearly finished the whole thing in one gulp. Johnny could not control his laughter.

"What's in this?" she asked. Johnny stopped laughing.

"Cauliflower, carrots, and hot peppers soaked in olive oil," he said.

"My God," said Alli, laughing. "And I thought red curry was hot."

"You can take that off your sandwich," Johnny told her, It was a good thing she didn't put the whole cup on there.

After they finished eating, they played some more pool. A couple of kids from Degrassi were there and they eyed Alli and Johnny curiously. Alli and Johnny barely noticed. They had fun chilling on a Saturday afternoon. It was so nice not to have to sneak around and worry about what other people thought.

They got some ice cream and sat down to eat it. Johnny suddenly got serious.

"You know, Backwoods," he said. "It's okay if you don't want to be my girlfriend. But I want you in my life. You're pretty cool." Alli smiled.

"Thanks," she said. "You're pretty cool too, but I think we're better off as friends."

"Fair enough," said Johnny with is trademark smirk. "I can do the friend thing."

When Johnny drove Alli home, they chatted nonstop, joked with each other and sang along with the radio. They both agreed that they would have to do this again some time but made no definite plans.

"You have my number," he said to her. "Call me if you ever want to talk, okay?" She nodded.

"Thanks Johnny," she said as she opened the car door. "I had a good time."

"Stay out of trouble. Backwoods," he teased. She rolled her eyes, shook her head and laughed. Then she got out of the car.

He watched her as she walked down the street and went into her house before driving home.

**For everyone who managed to finish this book, I mean story, thanks for your patience. My next story won't be so sad or so long.**

**Tatyana**


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